A Good Place
by HecateA
Summary: Harry picks up his godson for a birthday lunch and realises just how big of an impact Teddy is making in the world of magical medicine. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **I've been chewing on this headcanon for a while now; so enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Assignment #11, Women's History Task #2: Write about someone doing something charitable or working with the needy.

**Warnings: **Hospital setting.

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Terms of Services; Shower of Words

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Seeds; True Colours; No Punny Business; Tiny Terror; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Representation(s): **Position in the medical field; birthday

**Bonus challenge(s): **Nightingale; Mouth of Babes; Delicious Lie; Second Verse (Nontraditional); Chorus (Odd Feathers)

**Tertiary bonus challenge: **NA

**Word Count: **1503

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**A Good Place **

"Excuse me," Harry asked the witch manning the entrance table. "I'm sorry to disturb you—I was supposed to meet my godson here. Healer—"

"Oh, of course," the witch said. "I know who that is! Well, the Full Moon was two days ago, so he must be quite busy. Why don't you head up to the twelfth floor ward and find him directly?"

Harry thanked her and made his way to the elevator. He was alone in the rickety structure when it stopped at his floor. The pleasant voice chimed in: "Twelfth Floor: Lupin Memorial Lycanthrope Ward."

The doors opened and Harry stepped out onto the ward. He was met by a desk where a silver-haired witch sat filling in paperwork. Her desk was otherwise littered with clipboards and pens. He read the various signs propped on her desk: "No silver past this point to respect our residents. Please leave any belongings at the desk." "This ward is a safe space. Aurors will be called to remove anybody affecting the safety of our residents." "All new and returning residents must sign in."

She looked up when she heard the sound of the elevator and smiled at him.

"Hello," she smiled. "Welcome to Lupin Memorial. How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for my godson, Healer Lupin," he said.

"Of course!" the witch smiled. "He did tell me he had lunch plans. We're quite busy today, see, but he'll be out shortly if you want to have a seat."

"Thank you," Harry said, sitting down.

He had never been in the Ward, though he'd heard so, _so _much about it.

It was essentially a long hallway, with rooms on either side. It was clean and bright, painted a pleasant and soothing robin's egg blue. The floor was the same, sterile tiles like the rest of St. Mungo's. A few of the posters would have been out of place in the rest of the hospital, however; the one detailing the cycle of the moon, for instance. A blown-up calendar showing the whole year showed the full moons circled in blue. Hanging from the ceiling, a planetary system model outlined what the current phase of the moon was.

Harry read some of the public service announcement posters:"Know Your Rights In the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures" or "Protect Your Privacy: What Werewolf Registry Officials Can and Cannot Ask."

There was even a map of Great Britain, with specific parts of the country highlighted in blue where werewolf reservations were situated for safe transformations.

A few _Daily Prophet _articles had also been pinned up, most of them seemed to bear headlines relating to the Declaration of Werewolf Rights that a small group in Wales had been advocating for and drafting.

A decorated corkboard titled OUR HEALERS had pictures, names, and short profiles pinned up. Yellow stars were pinned next to the pictures of healers currently on duty. A sense of pride stirred in Harry's stomach when he saw the label "Head Healer and Founding Research Chair for Lycanthrope Specific Medicine" under Teddy's picture.

Colouring pages filled in by little kids had also been pinned up. The ward had only been open for a year, but it was full of life and it looked… well, _lived in. _

The ward was on the quiet side. Residents padded from one room to another, bringing each other books and packs of cards or carrying cups of tea. They wore either the blue scrubs that St. Mungo's distributed (Harry knew from experience), or their own clothes—soft sweatpants and bulky sweaters and well-worn favourite t-shirts. There was a fair amount of bandaged arms, covered up cuts, bruises and black eyes. A Healer was bringing trays of food from one room to another, a colleague was following with an array of potions.

"Oye, McElroy," one man called into another room, tauntingly. "You should try to eat. It's chicken tender day. You usually _wolf _this stuff down."

"Oh you're just howl-arious this morning, aren't ya?" someone with a thick Scottish accent called back to him. They both cackled.

"Hey," a familiar voice said as Teddy walked out of one of the rooms. He was wearing jeans and his favourite of the many sweaters Molly had made for him under his open Healer's overcoat. Today, his hair was a shocking blue and his eyes were jade green. His St. Mungo's pass hung around his neck, and he carried a clipboard under his arm. "Ian, if you're going to make a nuisance of yourself, go harass someone who isn't trying to sleep."

"He's from my pack boss, it's all good," Ian said, though he winked and wandered over to what must be the common room at the end of the hallway.

"McElroy," Teddy said, poking into the room. "You should really listen to Healer Todd and try to rest. Did you want the door closed? Brendan's going to be in the Common Room for a while, he won't mind. We'll be able to prescribe another sleeping draft in an hour, if you need it."

A little girl sprinted out of another room and made a beeline for Teddy, wrapping her arms around his leg.

"Healer Teddy, Healer Teddy," she said. "I ated a bite of chicken nugget!"

"Did you?" Teddy exclaimed in wonder. "Amy, that's awesome! I want a high-five. No, two high-fives. Two high-fives and a fist bump?"

The little girl giggled and complied, and Teddy grinned.

"Alright, now go keep eating," Teddy said. "And try not to run, okay? We don't want your stomach to get upset."

She skipped back to the room, from which another Healer had poked out. She held out her hand to welcome Amy back inside, and Teddy got up again and shut McElroy's door. That's when he saw Harry.

"Hey," he grinned.

"Hey," Harry replied. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks," Teddy said, hugging him quickly. "Sorry I'm running late; let me just finish filling in these forms for pain potions I prescribed…"

"Take your time," Harry said.

He watched Teddy plop down his clipboard on the desk and scribble, exchanging pleasantries with the administrative assistant. He was suave, confident, on top of everything. Another Healer came to ask him a question and he answered immediately with a smile. Amy came to update him on the status of her French fries (eaten). When one resident on crutches emerged for their bedrooms, they called to Teddy and Teddy shot back with an inside joke Harry didn't understand. The resident laughed and hobbled away.

Teddy passed his paperwork to the witch at the desk.

"Everyone's settled in for the afternoon I think, that's the end of rounds. I've told Ryan everything she needs to know; shouldn't be gone more than an hour…"

"Take two, it's your birthday." She smiled back.

"It's so busy today, I don't think so," Teddy laughed. He shrugged off his Healer coat and threw it in what must have been a laundry bin.

"Probably for the best, you wouldn't want to miss your birthday party."

"I told you I didn't want anything," Teddy sighed. "Who ratted me out? Victoire?"

"This isn't about you, the rest of us want cake," she laughed.

"Yeah," a resident called back. "We want cake!"

"We're getting cake," Teddy said. "My godfather's taking me out for lunch, then I'm back, and we're eating cake. Don't cause trouble."

"Me? I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Lying is beneath you."

"Oh I'm aware. Wolf."

"Ha, ha," Teddy said, rolling his eyes. "Alright, peace out party people. See you later."

He called the elevator, and started chatting with Harry about a cool thing his daughters had done that morning to celebrate. Once they were inside, Teddy asked Harry if there was a place he wanted to go because he, personally, was very interested in trying out this new Vietnamese restaurant that had opened not too far from the hospital.

Harry smiled at him.

"What?" Teddy asked.

"Nothing," Harry said. "I'm just… I'm feeling very warm and fuzzy."

"Oh, gross," Teddy said. "Don't do that on my birthday."

Harry smiled. "I can't help it. I'd never actually seen the ward before, much less seen it so full."

Teddy grinned and leaned against the elevator wall.

"It's a good place," he said. "People are doing so much better, even if we've just opened the ward a year ago. It's… it's crazy, how well people do when they're just cared for."

"It is," Harry said. "And I know you have a thousand reasons for doing this, but your father would be so, so… shocked, first. But proud. Your Healer of a grandfather too, I suppose, and your mother as well, just because."

Teddy grinned.

"He's the one who started this wave, I'm just riding it out," Teddy said.

"You're doing much more than," Harry said. "And I'm proud of you too. You're doing a good thing up there, Teddy."

Teddy shrugged. "They're good people. They deserve to be treated well. Now stop being gushy on my birthday and answer the question: pho, yes or no?"


End file.
